SF Vikings Soccer Club
SF Vikings Soccer Club
Background
The SF Vikings Soccer Club of Massachusetts is a premier youth soccer club located in the North Shore area of Massachusetts with players from numerous cities and towns of northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.
The SF Vikings Soccer Club was created in 2005 when the Force Athletic Club merged with the Soccer Union of the North Shore. The SF Vikings play in the Northeast Soccer League (NSL). Players are selected at an open tryout each year with talent, skill, and commitment to club soccer the primary criteria for selection.
Club Composition
The club is composed of teams of boys and girls in each group from Under-11 through Under-18. SF Vikings also operates a U-10 development program for 9 and 10 year old boys and girls.
SF Vikings’ mission is to create a strong and enduring institution which will guide, promote, encourage and support the long term development and commitment of boys and girls. The club offers the opportunity for players train year round and to compete against the best players in the state, region and country.
Facilities
NA
Website
- Horrible website; lots needs to be populated!?
We had an awful experience with this team. According the roster the team was coached by Rene. Novoa. His team had not won a game all season. Our team was in the middle of the pack with only two losses to teams that would eventually both finish without a loss. SF Vikings up to that point had only managed to score 11 goals over a period of 8 games. So imagine our surprise when 15 minutes into the game we are down 4-0. Now maybe our team just started slow, however all the goals were either scored or setup by player #93. In fact he would go on to score at least 5 of the teams 7 goals and set up the rest. Number 93 was good and he was also big in fact taller than our tallest player who is probably in the 90th percentile for his age group. If 93 could dribble through our defense this well how come he couldn’t score against teams we beat 4-0? This teams goal total almost doubled in just one game.
Well upon inspection surprise surprise 93 isn’t on the roster.. Their star central defender #12 was also curiously missing from the roster.. We have tried to get the league to look into this but it is clear the are reluctant to make waves and concluded it was sloppy handwritten by the ref and when he crossed out a number and wrote “?3” he meant “93” and not “3” ignoring the fact there was also a 3 on the field.
Obviously there is something fishy going on at this club. The roster showed the team was a mix of younger players (some two years younger) which is obviously why they were struggling in league play most weeks. It seems the coach gave them a “present” by bringing in some ringers to help them win the last game of the season. What a nice guy. How does this help his players develop. I would think it would hurt you confidence more than help it.
The coaching style I witnessed from the game before ours and this game is what I would call remote control coaching yelling dribble dribble..pass…cross.
If you are looking at this club please consider what is discussed above. Sportsmanship and fair play are part of player development based on the behavior of this coach not a very high priority.
Be wary of this club
you need to understand 2 things:
1. Vikings and many other clubs sometimes place players on rosters above their age group. They “play up.” This often happens withplayers who have the skill to play well and the size to play safely.
2. Those players are allowed to guest play back with their actual age group on an ad hoc basis. The reverse is also true. Younger players are allowed to play “up” Oman ad hoc basis..
Understand your facts. Rene simply doesn’t cheat.
I havent Gone to Sf Vikings Yet, But i hope my son has a great time there, were going to the tryouts soon, can i have anyone tell me how its like at the club?
Simply, it is a good value. The coach yells and can discourage some players, but in the end, it seemed those players recovered fine and might’ve even grown up more as a result. The price is much more reasonable than most clubs and surprisingly, it seemed more organized than the other 2 clubs we looked at.. All the kids on the team improved tremendously as a group by the end and it was clear they finished the season feeling better about soccer. I can’t ask for much more.
Rene is the best youth soccer coach I have met throughout my sons 7 years experience in youth soccer. Rene is dedicated to his team’s and takes the time to develop each players own talents. Rene is the type of coach that will develop your son into a very good soccer player. Rene will also teach your son discipline, respect,and sportsmanship.
XXX should not be coaching youngsters or teens but then again he lacks the maturity and credibility to coach adults so he would have to give it up. Rostered as my daughter’s team coach, he seldom showed-up for games. Maybe a good thing, had some very good coaches filling in for him. Minimized player injuries and blamed players even when he made coaching errors. Very poor communicator, incapable of developing team chemistry, his coaching style was very divisive and undermining of team development. Somebody should tell him that it takes the effort of 11 players on the field and the support of a solid bench to be a successful team. He generally only talks about two or three players. God help your child if XXX doesn’t like him/her regardless of the child’s talent! don’t walk away …. RUN!
The club is simply terrible. Alvi is an egomaniac. Somebody needs to check their non profit status. The whole club is a sham.
Love this club!!! Coaches are excellent. The second I walked into the tryouts being completely new for the club, the team manager started talking like I was already part of the club! The club is so welcoming and the girls are so nice. Excellent players, and the team is focused on the team playing well, not all focus is on one or two girls. Coach Alvi is very professional and not at all hard on the girls. Also, there is not a big difference between the A team and the B team. Website could use a little TLC but other than that, very impressed!
Awful club. I can’t even use the word club to explain them because they’re not one. Not abiding by the rules and stealing other clubs players during the season and coaches like rene Novoa harrassing kids. Not okay.
My daughter has been playing for the Vikings for the past 6years and she received qualified, experienced coaches who enabled her to develop as a player. love the fact that the club allows her to run track and play softball in high school, some of these clubs put too much pressure on the kids to only play soccer which is not healthy. Our overall experience was very positive and I would recommend this club to anyone.
My three children have played for the Vikings the last 5+ years. My daughter has had a terrific experience playing for head coach, Rob Gonnam, on this year’s U18 team. Rob is one of the best, most dedicated coaches I have ever come across. My son played on the U15 team this year which is coached by Alvi Ibanez. This group of boys has been one of the top four teams in their age group in the state each of the past four years. Everyone on this team is very pleased with their playing time and the team has not experienced turnover over the past few seasons. My youngest boy played for this year’s U14 team which was comprised of some of the most talented players you will ever come across. Their team manager and coach was first class. The boys were presented with a tremendous amount of opportunities to develop throughout the year.
This is about the U13 girls team. Their coach Francesco has done a fantastic job with the team since having the team abandoned by Alvi last spring. However, he seems to get no support from the club itself and has a team manager that was given to him by the club that is out to get him at every turn. My daughter notices this all the time. The manager seems happy when they lose so she can turn around and report to Alvi how “bad” of a coach Francesco is and when they win as they did this past weekend at a tournament (winning silver) there was not a single word from the manager. She seemed upset that the team was winning games.
My daughter loves this team and loves her coach. She has grown tremendously over the last two seasons and looks forward to continuing with him and her teammates moving forward. However, she has heard grumblings that Francesco might not be back and that would be a shame for the team. The girls and parents love him sans two parents and quite honestly would follow him somewhere else. We all hope Alvi and company aren’t trying to push out such a great coach. Huge mistake if they did. Along with her teammates (well most of them) he is what made it an enjoyable experience.
Couldn’t agree more! Unfortunately, Francesco is gone and my daughter has also decided to leave. It’s shameful that the special treatment of 2 of 12 players by Alvi, took down a coach and a team. On the upside, my daughter made some great (hopefully lifelong) friends who share her love of soccer!
We have played on the viking team for the two years U11 and U10 and our experiences have been very good. We felt this program was perfect for our daughter, not over the top, I have no issues with the coaches. The cost is reasonable and your child has time to actually play other sports than just soccer.
I would not recommend this club to anyone. The coaches are horrible, all they do is yell at my child I don’t pay this money to see my child cry and not play in the games she feels worthless and wanted to leave. I don’t see why there has to be such disrespect to the player.
A similar thing happened to me in u12 when I was called out by my coach at Vikings and insulted in front of my team mates who were like family to me it was heart breaking to be humiliated by some one I looked up to and respected. After the event happened my coach wouldn’t address it or apologize(coach is Rene Novoa) I believe a 12 year old shouldn’t be treated this way.
maybe u guys shouldnt be so sensitive i love coach Rene he trys to make everyone better if u suck hell tall u if u play good he’ll tell you
Thats so mean and 10 WOW HOW COULD ANYONE do that i know my kid would think that she suck at soccer forever.Because of that and why he should be letting her go on viking becaues she was U10 but had U8 girls on her team .He’ll be so sad beause she proubly is a great sooccer player un like him.
Good for you Patrick, this man’s behavior is reprehensible, he is a bully of the worst form! Alvi – you are an adult (i use that term loosely in relation to this man) and what you did to the spirit of someone who is ONLY 10 years old, passionate about soccer and VERY important to me, is bordering on abusive as far as I am concerned. How could you possibly imagine that it is ok to publicly humiliate a 10 year old???? You are ignorant and you can be sure that I will encourage EVERYONE I know to avoid your league and additionally to submit as many formal letters of complaint to Bill Walker, Chairman of the MAPLE Commission & disciplinary committee. bwalker@intersc.com
You made a serious error in judgement and trust me you have not heard the last of it!
Director of Coaching, Alvi, most obnoxious person I have ever meet. My daughter had been asked by two coaches to come practice with a U 11 team. She had been to three practices and was loving it. Team Manager was wonderful and had explained the level of the team to my wife. He was aware that my daughter had tried out for the Vikings in the fall but we were not happy with the coaching and combined U10 & U 8 team that she was placed on. We decided not to play for that season and withdrew from the program. Now we go to attend the fourth practice and Alvi is coaching the U12 girls and the U11 are practicing with them. The team manager set my daughter up with her group and a pinnie and she begins to play. The coach asks to speak with me and informs me that my daughter is no longer welcome. She had her chance last fall and that by leaving then we damaged that team. He told me to take my daughter and go home. I had to call my daughter off the indoor field in front of all her friends and the parents that were present. I have been a coach for 30 years and never have I disrespected a child like that in front of other children. No matter what the problem was the child was never brought into the situation. My 10 year old daughter cried for an over an hour because she felt he kicked her out because of her skill level. As long as this man is part of the Vikings program I will never recommend this Team any of the youth soccer program that I am affiliated with.
Patrick
The whole story should be told here Patrick. Your daughter walked away from a U-10 girls team in the Fall and took some players with her. Those actions put a whole team in jeopardy and they had to scramble to find some additional players in order to keep that team together and finish out the season. That team went on to have a successful Fall season and the girls that stuck with it seemed to get a lot out of it. Your daughter is a U-10 player and shouldn’t have been training with the U-11’s anyway. The club has two U-10 teams and from what I understand both coaches at that age group are great with the kids. The Director of Coaching Alvi is in charge of the teams and works closely with the coaches in the placement of these kids. If she was supposed to be training with the U-11’s then you would have heard from Alvi about that. You can’t pick and choose the teams you want to have your kid play for. They have try-outs in the Summer and the kids are placed on specific teams after that. I have known Alvi for years and I have had two children come through the program and I couldn’t think of a better coach in the North Shore Area that I would want to teach my kids the sport of soccer. I have a hard time imagining he would go out of his way to embarrass a 10 year old girl and I am guessing you are blowing this whole thing out of proportion because things didn’t go the way you wanted them to. I would suggest reaching out to him like an adult instead of putting these rants up on a soccer board. If you had such a bad experience in the Fall then why come back in the Spring? You also have an older daughter that plays for Soren and from what I understand she loves it and has had a great experience. If your younger daughter still wants to be a part of this program then have her come back to try-outs over the Summer and be done with it. You have plenty of other options in the area with Aztec and Northshore United. If you feel this is the wrong club for her then move on. If not then I would suggest picking up the phone and having a conversation with Alvi. By putting up these rants you are putting your daughter into an even more difficult situation. Think of her before you think of putting up your next post.
Dear Anonymous,
First and foremost don’t be so afraid to leave your name. I have no problem explaining the WHOLE STORY. Yes my daughter walked away from the u-10 team last Fall. We walked away because the u-10 program was run horribly. Caitlynn was asked by a u-10 coach to be on his team in May of 2012. We were told she did not even need to try out. My wife and I did not like this idea we felt she should tryout just like everyone else. That coach agreed and said he would put us on his team either way. Well tryout came and went and Caitlynn ended up on a different u-10 team. A team that only had 6 U-10 girls and 1 U-8 girls. We were told to be patient. Alvi would work it all out. So we waited. All practices in August were with 7 girls and our first official practice in Sept. had, you guessed it, 7 girls. Now remember, we were supposed to go to the other U -10 team that had 11 girls on it. All of which where the correct age group. But it was not aloud because they wanted to make another team. Probably had nothing to do with money though. So again we were told Alvi will work it out. So here comes our first game. What did Alvi do. He brought up 4 more U-8 girls. No offense to these girls, they played to the best of their ability. They were lost on the soccer field. At half time we were losing 6 – 0 and that is only cause the other team stopped scoring. The best part was when the coach called over our team manager and said he had to leave. That is right. With no info or notice to the parents. The coach packed his bag and left the game. The parents and the girls had no clue about what was happening. So at this point my wife and I felt that the $1500.00 we were spending was not working out. I did call Alvi and talked to him like an Adult, as you say I should, and said Thank you but I don’t think this is going to work for us this year. and that was the end of it. As to others leaving at the same time, I had no say in that. If they left it was of there own free will. Maybe they felf their $1500.00 was better spent on something else.
As to my older daughter still playing, this should be a perfect example that we held no ill will. She loves her Coach, Soren and her teammates. And if it was not for her love for the team and Coach I would have pulled her off The Vikings last month. If you really read my comment above you would have noticed that we did not search out the U -11 Team. Caitlynn was asked to come and practice with them by Rene and their Coach Jose. We practiced with them for four practices before Roller Palace. We had a conversation with their Team Manager John and told him of our Fall season experience. They all said it was not a problem. The Fall program was a disaster. Alvi was in charge of that and he was pissed that I called him out on that. We had no problems with the Vikings walking away in the Fall. Sometimes things just don’t work out. She was only 10. Our thoughts were she could tryout next year. Alvi stopped the practice and kick my daughter off the floor in front of all her friends. You can stick up for him all you want but something tells me if this happen to you and your daughter you would be seeing RED just like me. He may have all the soccer knowledge in the world but his people skills Suck and I will not recommend this program to anyone. How is that for a rant.
My son has had a great experience with the Vikings. The coaching is awesome they have made my son a better soccer player. Some of you make comments about fields.Clubs have to use town fields . Most town don’t want Clubs using town fields. My son has played on some bad fields at other clubs. The Viking do the best they can in keeping the cost down so every kid has a chance to play.
awesome club very fun great skills coaches need tiny bit more technique but great players
Head coach is an obnoxious and classless.
There are other coaches that are also pationate about winning,
but they do it by treating their kids with respect.
Coach teaches kids well, but completely plays favorites. Practice fields are horrible. Web-site is useless.
Good point about playng the favorate as I heard that from someone else but I always figured it was from a disgruntled parent who just wanted the best for their little Viking!; website is just uselss
This club has been great for my three sons. The coaches are excellent and fun, the facilities are fine, don’t know what people are complaining about. The kids are friendly and work as a team. But most of all it’s the training that I find excellent. Great experience so far, great club.
Although not the biggest, I have always found the organization to be very professional. Coaches are knowledgeable and balance competitive achievement with technical and tactical knowledge and development of the game. My son really enjoys his teammates and competing at a very high level while also having a lot of fun. All in all, I would say the Vikings are a terrific organization and have given my son a wonderful soccer experience.
Website out of date
Coaches are disrespectful
Lousy facilities
The SF Vikings clearly have the best training and game facilities on the North Shore and some of the best in Massachusetts.
Coaches are professional, knowledgable and very easy to work with.